The Rider Family Luck
by Lonesome Personified
Summary: Alex has been captured by the School, breaking his last promise to his most likely dead sister, Max. Everyday he plans his escape, but will escaping be proven to be much easier when a certain group of bird kids along with a very familiar face arrive?
1. Chapter 1 Caged Again

The Rider Family Luck

**AN: Just to make sure, this story is AU, so don't review and hate.**

**Disclaimer: All rights belong to the geniuses known as James Patterson and Anthony Horowitz. **

Chapter 1: Caged. Again.

Alex POV

I can't believe I got caught. I promised Max that after I had escaped, I'd never let the School cage me again! It's all damn MI6's fault! But no. I, the oh so very great Alex Rider, was, apparently, _"the only one capable of investigating this suspicious American mega company"_. Those bastards.

They made me break my last promise to most likely dead sister. Those evil scientists probably over experimented Max on. Or worse, turned her one of those gruesome monsters that did their bidding.

So here I am, newly grafted brown and white wings on my back, stuffed in a School cage.

I need to get out of here, I thought. I didn't escape the School without my sister just to wind up here again ten years later.

And so I waited. Waited for the chance to escape. Waited for the Erasers to let their guard down. And after who knows how long, I finally struck.

The bulky shit heads called Erasers were taking me out of my prison for another round of tests. I complied, as I usually did (to get them to let their guards down of course) and came out without any of complaints. They were pretty relaxed with me, knowing I didn't cry or fight back. The other experiments I shared a room with thought I was sucking up to them and scorned me for it. I didn't care though. They'd see me as their ally in the end.

When I was completely out of my cage, I suddenly lashed out with perfect roundhouse kick, connecting with a hairy Eraser stomach. While he was doubled over in obvious pain, I kneed the other in the groin then elbowed his face. Eraser One finally recovered from the pain and lunged at me. He tried grabbing one of my extended wings, but missed when I expertly sidestepped. I then punched the side of his head, effectively knocking him unconscious.

Eraser Two, red hot and angry with a look of vengeance on his ruined face. I see I had broken his nose. Unfortunately, he saw the smirk that had graced my face and charged me.

The Eraser with the decorated face, courtesy of me, never got his revenge though. As he charged, the door flew (hehe pun- tastic aren't I? 'Cause of the wings?) open and the brute was tackled to ground and knocked unconscious by a mysterious black blur.

At the door were two people, one being a tall, blonde boy with a pair of pale, faded blue eyes, and the other a girl with warm mocha skin and brown eyes. I saw the floor next to me stir and I saw a boy outfitted all in black, matching his black eyes and hair, stand up

"My name is Fang", he addressed the whole room filled with experiments. "This is Iggy and Nudge. We're here to bust you all out of here".

**OOOOH! Yeah, I went there. Suspense! **

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	2. Chapter 2 Escaping With A Familiar Face

The Rider Family Luck

**This is AU. Just to let you know.**

**DISCLAIMER:  I don't own these guys. They belong to Anthony Horowitz and James Patterson.**

Chapter Two: Escaping with a Familiar Face

Alex Pov

They're here to rescue us? I guess my job of escaping just got a lot easier.

After all the other experiments were freed, we all stampeded out the door and into the maze of corridors outside. Some of them tried asking me why I finally decided to rebel, but I just waved them off. There wasn't any time to explain. We needed to focus on getting out of here first.

We all followed the mystery saviors, who revealed themselves to be fellow experiments, through the hallways. They looked like they knew were they were going, which, I thought, was very suspicious. But so far, they haven't done anything that told me they were working for the School, so I would just have to trust them. For now, at least. The moment I see them as enemies, limbs will be dismembered and faces will be broken.

They lead us to a door. A regular looking door. But as my new birdie senses tingled, I heard whispered voices and shuffling feet on the other side. I guess they were allies, because Fang, Nudge, and Iggy relaxed a little. We opened the door and three other figures instantly went into their fighting stance. When they saw that it was just a bunch of escaped experiments in rags lead by three dirty faced rescuers, they put their attention back on the tied up receptionist.

I took in my surroundings. We were in a posh white lobby, lush chairs scattered about a marble floor, a big reception desk right across two tinted glass doors.

Doors! And doors tend to lead to freedom. For me anyway.

The three people who surrounded the now unconscious receptionist were coming toward us now.

One was a little boy, around nine years old, blonde hair on his head, blue eyes in his face. If you looked closely, I thought, you could see a hint of madness in them, like he plays with explosives on a daily basis. Kind of like Smithers' eyes.

Another was a little girl, similar in looks to the little boy, whom I'm assuming is her older brother. Her blonde, curly hair and big, round eyes made her the poster child of innocent children. The ribbons in her hair and her frilly pink dress only enhanced the feeling. But there was something off about her. Not like how her brother is off, though. Something was lurking under that innocent gaze.

The last of the trio was a tall blonde girl with brown eyes, maybe a year younger than me **(Alex's 15 here, Max 14)**. She looked tough and hard as nails. Like she was going to smack you if you get her angry.

That was the first thing I noticed about her. I paid more attention to her features and saw some familiarities. That hair, those eyes, the shape of her face, they looked like Rider features to me.

It can't be. She's supposed to be gone. But Max, an older version of her, my little sister, was standing right there. Unless, this escape was just a mind trick, maybe I never fought those two Erasers and I'm being tested and experimented on right now.

I pinched myself, just to make sure. It had to be real. Now she was standing right in front of me, but her attention was to that dark haired kid. Does she not recognize me?

"Is this everyone Fang?" Max asked. "'Cause we got to get out of here, NOW. Erasers could arrive any minute now."

"Every experiment who could move is here" Fang reported.

"Then let's get everyone on the bus."

He was herding us all toward the doors when the Erasers attacked. The two little blonde siblings lead the panicking experiments to the bus, which I saw was parked in the School's parking lot. It's weird, though. I never really thought evil science labs had parking lots.

But I stayed behind to fight. I had to help, not only because they rescued me, but also because I had to protect my sister. I couldn't lose her like how I had lost all my other loved ones.

I kicked, I punched, and I'm pretty sure I dislocated a few Eraser shoulders. I fought angrily, letting loose all my hatred, not just my hatred for the School, but for MI6 and SCORPIA, for those jackass classmates whose butts I've saved so many times, and for all those people who have ruined my life in some way. But I wasn't blinded by rage, I was focused and my senses were extra sharp. To an observer's eye, I would've looked focused only on my own battle, but my focus was everywhere. I saw Iggy, the BLIND kid, expertly knock an Eraser down, Nudge on another's back, clawing at him. Fang was defending the doors, trying to keep the hairy monsters away from the busload of about- to- be- escaped experiments. Max was fiercely fighting an Eraser with a gigantic bruise, probably inflicted by her fist.

Then, a rogue one ran toward her, with Max's back to him. I had to protect her, had to keep her somewhat unharmed. So, I jumped and blocked the attack with my body. It was then that she turned around and saw me, a look of recognition on her face.

Black spots dotted my vision and I fell to my knees. Before I passed out, I saw Max taking down that Eraser, savage rage marring her pretty face.

**Oh man. Max is ANGRY. **

**Thank you to those of you that reviewed! This was my FIRST story here and those words you sent me were gladly appreciated. (^_^)**


	3. Chapter 3 The Explanations Part One

The Rider Family Luck

Chapter 3:The Explanations Part One

**DISCLAIMER: Sadly, these genius creations of imagination called characters aren't mine. Anthony Horowitz and James Patterson own them. Sigh… Although I own by Ocs. Yay**

**On to the story.**

Alex Pov.

I drifted in and out of consciousness, seeing bits and pieces here and there. After I had fallen, we were overwhelmed. With me slung over someone's shoulder, we all retreated to the bus.

When I woke up next, we were still on the road. With the bus's bouncing, I finally felt the long delayed pain in my chest. I guess the Eraser got my old bullet wound. Glad he's been taken care of.

I heard someone whisper- shouting my name, but the pain was too intense. I passed out.

"-e's my brother, okay? That's why I almost got us all caught! I haven't seen him for TEN years Fang. That's why I risked it! You would've done the same for me!

Someone was full out yelling now. About me? I was still beyond comprehending things, my head pounding. I felt bandages on my chest. Someone treated me?

The pain was back. I guess there weren't any anesthetics. Oh, there goes my consciousness again.

I wasn't on the bus anymore, that's the first thing I noticed. My chest wasn't aching anymore, so I guess they finally found some anesthetic. I got up from the bed I was laying on and surveyed my surroundings.

I was in a cozy little room filled with snoozing experiments. They were sleeping on the floor though. I occupied the only bed.

Time for some exploration, I thought. Even though my movements were a little sluggish and pained, I made it outside of the room. I could see the downstairs from here and saw a homey living room occupied by a few of the rescuers.

They had heard me get out of the room and rushed to see if I was okay. I was dizzy from standing up too long and fell, only to be caught by slender arms.

" Geez, your still an idiot bro" sighed an exasperated Max. " You should've at least had your hand on the wall or the railing or something. Let me help you downstairs. It's breakfast."

"Max!" I shouted in joy. I turned around and hugged my dear little sister. " Are you alright? Are you hurt? You better not be or I'll go back to that damned lab and beat every living thing there and have them-" I was promptly cut off.

"Quit being so over protective! I'm not the one with the bandages!" she said.

" Hey! It's my job to be over- protective, especially since I haven't got the chance to do it to you for ten years. I need to make up for time!"

While I said that, she led me to the kitchen, where everybody stared at me. A couple of the experiments I was jailed with were there and so were all the rescuers. I felt like those scientists back at the school were examining me at again.

She helped me into a vacant chair and went to get me breakfast. Even with my head down I could feel their gazes. I needed to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Well, you all seem to be bursting with unanswered questions. Go ahead. Ask away," I said quite nonchalantly.

"Explain yourself"

This came from one of the recently escaped experiments. I believe he named himself Asher. He was one of the monkey experiments, making him flexible and long limbed. With his intense green eyes he stared at me. (**Wow I just noticed how much I made people stare at poor Alex)**

"What ever do you mean?" I said innocently. I wanted to get a kick out of this guy.

"You know damn well what I mean! Why did you do what you did? You where one of the kiss ups, one of the ones who licked the floor those scientists walked on! Why the sudden change of heart?" Asher yelled.

There was a calm, everyone at the table quiet. Max had finally arrived with my cereal. (**Yes I know that Max can cook, but cereal isn't really cooking**)

"You're an idiot, you know?" I stated. "Has living in that prison not taught you anything? That was all an act, a trick. I had to get the Eraser's guard down around me so I could find a chance to escape. If these guys hadn't come to the rescue, I would've been the one unlocking all your cages."

My fellow recently escaped experiments sat there and let it sink in. They probably regret treating me the way they had. Awesome.

"So that's why you were out of your cage when we got there! And with a couple of Eraser bodies surrounding you! You fought them both didn't you? You were probably all like 'hiyah!' and they were all like 'waaaah' and then you-" Nudge was promptly cut off by that little blonde boy, one of the rescuers.

"I'm gonna take my hand off now Nudge. And when I do, I want you to shut up. 'Kay?"

She nodded. "Sorry Gazzy."

"Anymore questions?" I was halfway done with my cereal.

"Are you really Max's big brother?" It was that little girl, the odd frilly one. I felt something poke at my mind, and then realized she was a mind reader. She probably already knew.

"You know the answer to that already, little girl. It's not nice to eavesdrop on someone's thoughts. You might catch something you won't like.

She looked pleased, though. "Your good. Of course Max's big brother would be great."

I smiled, though I was still wary of her. She would try to read my mind even more in the future. Not good.

"But if your Max's older brother, then how come none of the Flock, excluding Max, knew you or anything about you?" Fang asked.

I sighed. More explanations. Oh fun.

**So that was chapter 3! **

**Yay!**

**But you know the routine. Your click that big blue review button down there, the unicorn pops out and entertains you, and you write what you think of mah story.**

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	4. Chapter 4 The Explanations Part Two

Chapter 4: The Explanations Part Two

**DISCLAIMER:** **I get sad every time I do this. But I promised my unicorn that I would. So, I don't own Alex Rider or Maximum Ride. They belong to Anthony Horowitz and James Patterson. Sigh…. I think I just died a little.**

Fang Pov (Finally!)

I believed he was Max's brother. Who wouldn't? They're identical. Same dirty blonde hair, warm but serious brown eyes. They even had the same colored wings. But I had to be cautious; he could be an act working for the school.

Angel had just squashed all those suspicions when she read his mind.

But why hadn't I or anyone else in the flock known of him? The great Maximum Ride had a big brother. A British big brother. I was pretty sure Max was American. I wanted answers, and I was sure everyone else did too.

"It all started when our parents decided to take us on a trip to America", Alex began. " Our father worked for the government and had just gotten back from a serious deep cover mission. And to celebrate his survival, Mum had suggested a family vacation. It was a good way to relieve stress and spend time with his family, so he agreed."

"I remember that", Max said. " I still had my accent then."

"I bet you can't talk like Brit without embarrassing yourself now", Alex teased. " But back to my tale of adventure."

"We went to California. The Golden State. Fun in the sun, right? A place where you don't expect a bunch of crazy scientists to nest."

"We had just come back from another day at the beach. Mum was cooking dinner and Dad was setting the table. I remember chasing Max around the beach house because she took my toy soldier and wouldn't give it back." Alex looked nostalgic. " She was four and I was five. We had no idea what was going to happen

"They just stormed the house. The Erasers, I mean. Broke down doors and smashed through windows. Took Mum and Dad by surprise, and before our parents knew what was going on, they…." Max said this. Her and Alex's faces were pained now. Alex engulfed her in a brotherly hug.

"They were dead by the time we got to the kitchen. The Erasers surrounded and tranquilized us, stuffing us into separate burlap sacks. Next thing I knew, Max and I were at the Death Valley School, stuffed in a cage."

Then Max said, " The scientists told us that they killed our parents because of their bounty. SCORPIA, the organization my father went deep cover in, was offering a lot of money for their deaths. Enough money to fund a lab, full of experiments. They thought it was only convenient that they kidnap us. More test subjects, right?" She sounded thoroughly disgusted. Not that I didn't agree with her.

"We were there for weeks. The scientists couldn't decide what to do with Max and I. Enhance our hearing or our strength? Stick a tail on us or give us the ability to control atoms? Back then, the School didn't have as many test subjects, so they had to be careful with the ones they had. "

"They succeeded in increasing my speed, strength and intelligence a bit. Had me running around mazes and sparring with Erasers every day. It was Hell. Good thing they hadn't done anything to Max yet, or I'd have massacred every single one of them." Alex spat. "The halls would've been painted in blood and flesh."

"Not to be rude or anything, but all of us here have been in the clutches of the School at some point, but we wouldn't even go that far. They're still human beings." Iggy said. I thought that he of all people would side with Alex's statement.

"You've no idea what I went through before I got captured" Alex quietly said. " What I was forced to do." Then he chuckled. "I've been at both ends of the gun. I've shot, been shot at, seen others get shot. I'm used to death by now."

Everyone shifted in his or her seat, disturbed. What had this guy been through? We've been through some tough shit, but killing someone, even one of those scientists, seems a bit too far over the line.

" So, as I was saying, they had experimented on me. Increased speed, strength, intelligence. Then one day, one of them thought of creating a super soldier program. I was to be a part of it, along with some other physically enhanced experiments."

" The program was back in England." Max said. "They were planning on separating us. Alex didn't want that and tried to smuggle me on board the plane to England. His plan was to escape from the England School with me and head to Uncle Ian's house in Chelsea. But we got busted. One of the other experiments tattled and we got separated. I made him promise me that if he ever escaped, he'd never go anywhere near a School ever again."

" I got experimented on and became a bird kid after he was sent to England. I never talked about him with you guys because I thought they had turned him into a mindless super soldier, someone like Omega, and someone who wasn't my brother.

"We actually knew Omega, who was back then Anthony. He was another who was sent to the program. Max and I shared a room with him." Alex said "He isn't Anthony anymore though, just some School drone.

" The top School drone, actually" Nudge said. " Went all ninja on Max once and she was all like 'oh no you didn't' and Omega was all like ' oh yeah I went there, then-" She was muffled by one of Angel's stuffed animals.

"Back to my story, now." Alex said. "I did, eventually, escape. Tom, a fellow experiment that I had befriended in the program, and I hid in a shipment of cougar DNA headed for London. There, he reunited with his family, and I found my Uncle Ian's house. That place was home for nearly ten years."

"How is Uncle Ian? Still a 'lonely bachelor', as Dad would've put it? Oh, and how about Jack?" Max asked.

Alex's face dropped at this. " They… They're dead. Ian for nearly a year, and Jack a few months."

Max's sobered up. " I see"

"That still doesn't explain why you were at the Death Valley School" Gazzy questioned. " You said you escaped, and you promised Max that you'd never go anywhere near a School again."

"I'm getting to that" Alex said, " I told you guys that our father worked for the government right? Our uncle did too, and after his death MI6 approached me. They wanted me to finish the mission that Ian died on. I had no choice,though, since they threatened to deport Jack, our housekeeper, back to America and send me to a boys home. "

"So I successfully completed the mission and was employed by MI6. I did mission after mission, gaining a reputation as an agent with a 100% success rate.

"But your only a year older than me" I said. " Isn't employing kids to do espionage, I don't know, illegal?"

"They were the government." Alex said in a bitter tone. " They made it legal, for my case anyway. I couldn't do anything about it."

"Did they know about your mutations?" Iggy asked. "Is that why they used you?"

Alex chuckled "They just thought I was a very fit boy. Of course, even before I was experimented on, I was fit. They used my fitness to their advantage. I was trained to do their bidding. Infiltrations, investigations…. Assassinations. It was my job till I was captured investigating Itex for one of my missions.

"Of course, I didn't want to do that mission, but I was blackmailed, again. They usually pulled out the 'We're going to deport your housekeeper if you don't do as we say' card, but since Jack had been murdered by SCORPIA they pulled out the 'You've no choice, because your under our jurisdiction and you have to do what we tell you to do' card."

"So here you are now Alex" Max said

"I'm happy though. If I weren't captured, I wouldn't have escaped MI6 and reunited with my only remaining family member" He hugged Max then.

"I've missed you Al"


	5. Chapter 5 The Past Strikes Home

The Rider Family Luck

Chapter 5 The Past Strikes Home

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah, I don't own Alex Rider or Maximum Ride. 'Nuff said.**

**I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while! To be honest, I've had a serious case of writer's block and couch potato- ness.**

**And I know, I made Max all OOC in the last chapter, but I didn't do it on purpose! So from now on I'm gonna try to make her more Maxy and less... whatever girly monstrosity I had created . **

**Kay. **

**To my amateur story :)**

**Alex Pov**

Weeks have passed since the escape. A lot of the experiments decided to leave and explore the world. Only a few had remained. Melody, a mermaid girl transferred from the Maine School, Rust, a somewhat failed wingless bat experiment from the New York Institute, and Deck, a, ahem, bunny experiment shipped from Alabama. They're cool, once I got to know them and they stopped hating my guts.

I found out that Melody claims to be an "anti-peskitarian", or someone that doesn't eat fish. But, I found her eating smoked salmon once. Let's just say that I have her to my beck and call, as long as I don't tell everyone her little secret.

Rust likes to fix cars, and every week I go with him to the junkyard in town to get some parts for his creations. And, not only does he know how to fix cars, he knows how to rig and destroy them too. Yeah, we have three explosive maniacs in the house now.

I know that Deck hates to be called Bunny Boy and WILL deck anyone that calls him that. Hence his name. He's a heavy set guy, and you'll hurt like fudge after one of his sessions.

I also got to know the members of the flock too. Nudge always goes on about how I look like that Alex Pettyfer guy and how I should go and be a male model. I told her how that will NEVER happen, but she keeps bothering me about it. Once, she came home with a stolen camera and told me to pose. I just ran and threw myself out the window. Oh the perks of being an escaped experiment.

Iggy, Gazzy and I always go about teasing Max about her relationship with Fang, making smoochy faces at her till she chases us to the woods. And when that happens, Gazzy throws a fart bomb at her and we run like we're being chased by a Max shaped piece of angry.

Angel really creeps me out, and that's saying a lot. She goes around, acting all innocent and, well, angelic, but there's something under all of that. A cunning, clever predator dressed in frilly pink clothing. But sometimes that creepy vibe I get from her disappears and she's just a regular six year old that likes to annoy people and eat cake.

Now Fang, I stalk a lot. Gotta a do a brother's job of making sure that their sister is dating a suitable guy, right? But when I'm not stalking him, I'm lecturing him about what will happen if he ever hurts Max. Yeah, I know that Max is strong and will probably beat his guts out if anything ever happens, but still. Other than that, he's okay.

* * *

><p>"Let's go Alex! We gotta get to the junkyard before all that good car parts are gone!" Rust yelled.<p>

"Who's gonna take car parts from the junkyard besides us? OTHER escaped experiments that like to fix and destroy cars?" I retorted.

"Stop being a smartass and hurry your british booty up!" Iggy said. I heard Gazzy snicker. " Or your carrying Rust to town! Gotta exercise those wing muscles!

"Oi! that's utterly unfair! Rust ways, like, a TON!"

"Hey! This is all muscle right here!"

* * *

><p>"Don't you think this is way too much?" I asked<p>

"Nah, I'm just stocking up since those guys at the junkyard keep catching us. Don't wanna get banned from my main source of car parts, now do I?" Rust said.

We landed outside of the E-house, Rust with his sack of parts, Gazzy and Iggy with their stolen cheese burgers, and me with bruised knuckles. Man, those junkyard guys had hard faces.

But something wasn't right. I know, cliche, but it was true. I didn't hear Nudge blasting her music, or Deck hopping through the nearby trees. I'm guessing the others noticed too, because they instantly quieted down.

The house was empty, so far. We searched the house, and all the rooms were empty. What happened! Where did everyone go?

The four of us met back in the living room. " Anyone find anything?" Iggy asked.

"I did" Gazzy said. "A silver scorpion pendant. It was in-"

"YAAAAAHHH!" A slim blue blur had tackled Gazzy. "Where did you take them? Who do you work for? What do you want with us?"

Was that Melody?

"Melody? Melody! Calm down! It's just us!" I yelled.

"Alex? Thank God, they didn't get you guys!" She was sobbing at this point.

"What happened? Where's everyone else?" Rust asked.

"They took them. They took everyone but me, Max, and Angel. They were so strong! We couldn't stop them! They just left us and took everyone else. When I woke up, I hid us under the kitchen table just in case they came back. I thought that you guys were the people that kidnapped everyone else! Oh, they had guns and fancy skills and I kept seeing this silver scorpion sigil on all of them! They kept muttering something about not forgetting or forgiving and-"

"Gazzy?" I asked with a deadly calm voice.

"Yeah?"

"Where did you find that scorpion pendant?"

"In your room. Why?"

I took a ragged breath. This couldn't be happening. How did they find me? I'm far away from England, far away from my old home, far away from my old life. I was pretty sure I was completely off the radar. I guess I was just fooling myself.

So with a bitter smile, I said:

"Because Scorpia never forgives, and Scorpia never forgets."


End file.
